Wednesday, March 10, 2010

First Impressions: Final Fantasy XIII

So I received my copy of Final Fantasy XIII at Walmart at Midnight Tuesday. Of course having just watched Hurt Locker, I was exhausted and decided to delve into it the next day after work. I was very excited to play as the last single player Final Fantasy game I played was X as I had missed out on XII regrettably.

After dinner, I fired up the game and was immediately engrossed in gorgeous animation. The cut scenes were gorgeous and the voice work was exemplary. Even at first impression, it reminded me of Final Fantasy VIII. The opening scene was a train for both games. Plus the futuristic similarities are definitely there.

It throws you into the combat tutorial fairly quickly so it's not as much waiting around and definitely not as much reading as the characters actually speak! :) One thing I found surprising is that you only control the party leader. This might change as I go further through the game but it was odd having the other party members act of their own accord. Even going as far as them using a potion (And a potion heals your entire party as well).

The combat system is interesting, there is an added feature that isn't too hard to understand and allows big crits on the bad guys. Because who doesn't like big crits? The chracters are what I'm used to seeing in a Final Fantasy Game. Some have weird hair or big hair and the style is definitely consistent. You go back and forth between three groups of people so that helps round the story out a bit.

So far, I am only three hours in and it takes me a long time to finish a Final Fantasy game because I explore EVERYTHING. But I am liking it so far.